A mirror in hypertext
With the click of my mouse, thousands of mega bytes travel through my DSL line at lightning speed. As I keyed in my secret password, the letters and numbers are then encrypted with mathematical formulas.
An unknown agent validates my entry. Now, I have the passport to enter the virtual world.
The four corners of my screen were delightfully colored with various hyperlinks that will allow me to travel to different parts of this borderless world.
The notion of the borderless world is exciting as it is intriguing. At a time when crossing over an international border would require tedious validation and approval, venturing into cyberspace needs not the validation or approval.
Only the entering of restricted sites does one require such validation. And even so, this validation can be acquired through the numbers of one’s credit card in a matter of seconds.
Embarking on a journey in cyberspace, one could experience virtual ‘feels’ of shopping, socializing and interacting.
Sounds, graphics, pictures, and animations greeted me as I click from one page to another, browsing through the sea of texts.
As I click my way through the virtual world, I found myself on blogsphere. Intrigued, I browsed and searched for more.
Blogsphere is one particular cyber-phenomenon that is gaining popularity. Weblogs is the online version of journals, where anyone can create a personal website of their own. Personal stories such as what the person had for lunch to political issues are voiced through this uncensored media.
But isn’t an online journal oxymoronic?
Not according to Viviane Serfaty in her book The mirror and the veil, as she asserts that self-representational writing have been flourishing in the virtual world as a means of self-expression that begs for explanation than bewilderment.
She argues that, this uncensored means of self-expression celebrates the notion of democracy and freedom without regards to race and background.
David Kline and Dan Burstein in their book Blog! – how the newest media revolution is changing politics, business and culture explains how this time in history marks a unique moment that encourages people to converse, communicate, argue publicly, and learn collaboratively in line with the fast paced technology of the twenty-first century.
Amongst the sea of words and pixels an unheard voice speaks above the noise : the voice of an ordinary citizen. With blogging, the ordinary citizen can re-engage in the long-lost art of public conversation, and allow their words and ideas be published for at least a small audience.
And yet, though one may think this may not have a significant impact, James F. Moore of Harvard’s Berkman Center for Internet & Society has dubbed blogging as “the second superpower”.
This superpower is not a rival of the United States, but the global social force that have regained their consciousness and power to invent, act and change the world.
Contrary to other forms of media production, blogging allows instantaneous dialogue about world events. This power is not to be undermined.
But exactly how ‘uncensored’ is it? Though it needs not any prior censoring before it is published, it is nevertheless under the careful eyes of the ‘cyberpolice’.
The Chinese government for instance, has issued a series of edicts as a means of controlling and constraining the spread of blogs that supports revolutionary ideas.
So, is it really democratic? Although I do agree to a certain extent of how blogging raises the voice of an ordinary citizen, I very much doubt that it does raise the voice of the ordinary farmer in the rural parts of China or any other rural areas in the world for that matter.
The internet, like any other technology, is a luxury for millions of people in the
Third World. In fact, with 80 million beggars and 24,000 people die each day of hunger in the world, I doubt that these people have even touched a computer.
And there is the notion of the digital divide- between those who have access to technology and those who don’t.
In Michel Beaujour’s words, “writing enables direct access to the consciousness of individuals; we can hope to see the world through their eyes as reflected in their writing. A mirror in ink-a transfer from the inside to the outside”.
But how reflective is the mirror in hypertext? Does it reflect the consciousness of the poor peasant in the rural parts of the world?
I think not.
